DUP insider: “People are thinking post Assembly careers right now…”
“I just think people are losing the will to go on. This place isn’t working and won’t work. People are thinking post Assembly careers right now.” These are the stark views of a senior DUP insider. The message emanating from inside Sinn Fein is correspondingly as black. One senior figure warned: “Without a breakthrough this place will come down in the New Year.”Gregory Campbell of the DUP has really put the cat among the pigeons. Asked when the transfer of policing and justice powers might happen, he said:
“We don’t know. We are still working through the necessary issues that will contribute to community confidence. We have got to work at the conditions that make up the community confidence and whether we get them in six weeks, six months or six years – That is the time policing and justice will be transferred.
A senior civil servant said the most the Prime Ministers can say is: “We want the devolution of policing and justice powers by such a date. They cannot do anything to force this to happen.”
we are fast reaching the point where HMG has to say to Unionism:
“There are certain rights and responsibilities you need to live up to in order to remain part of the UK”
If they’re refusing to play ball against the advice of Brit/Irish/USA/NIO/PSNI there has to be some sanction.
They’re holding the process to ransom.
what process percy? sinn feins?
The will be no devolution of P+J, many unionists will let direct rule happen and sinn fein will lose its only card
guardian.co.uk – 39 minutes ago
Britain and other rich countries should open their borders and accept the millions of the world’s poorest people who will be displaced by climate change, says Bangladesh’s finance minister.Oh and dont let us forget Turkey.
And so britian will let all peoples in, so dont be worrying boys the Sinn fein and the DUP will be able to forget all about all about policing and justice being transferred.Or marches for that matter.Bring it on a few years and 600 years of crap will finally go down the toilet for good.Gregory will then be free to devote more time to his new constituents and the new multi lingual assembly.
Post-assembly careers?
I’m sure the head-hunters are lining up at the gates of Stormont to ask Allan Bresland, Ian McCrea and Adrian McQuillan to come away and work for Goldman Sachs.
“Without a breakthrough this place will come down in the New Year.”
Och aye, and scarce will be the tears on hill or glen while the wailng will be silent and the laughter shoulder shaking.
Would anyone really miss it apart from those directly or inderectly employed?
Reply to i wonder
I do not know if that level of immigration will happen or not
But one thing is for sure Gregory will be left behind and I suppose that he will be happy with that.
“We are still working through the necessary issues that will contribute to community confidence.”
Can someone explain to me – and I ask this genuinely – what this “community confidence” is?
Is it “if I get burgled, can I ring the local police station, and reasonably expect a SOCO out within an hour or two?”
Or is it: “I’m a (insert community background here) and I have no confidence in a police where half of them are the other sort”?
Or is it: “I’m a law-abiding member of the community, and I don’t trust ANY of our politicians to leave the police to make policing decisions”?
Or is it: “I’m an elected member of (insert useless party here) and until I get A, B, C, D, and, indeed, E, which all make part of the petty mosaic of layers of what-I-wantery in this carbuncle on the arse of humanity, then *you* aren’t getting X, Y, and Z where Z = expecting a reasonable police force for the taxes and rates that keep me in an overpaid job”?
Or is it: “My daughter got knocked over fifty feet away from where she was hit by a dangerous driver, and while the police bit of the system did ITS job properly, he received a three year suspended sentence, and I have no confidence in the judiciary in this region”?
Is it a particular community confidence for the DUP? Or given that the ghost of Special Branch still hangs in the air, is it a particular community confidence for the Shinners? And if indeed this is an issue, when the DUPes get THEIR “community confidence”, what will happen if the Shinners aren’t feeling particularly “confident” that day/week/month/year (delete as applicable)?
As I say, I ask only because I just don’t understand the concept….
Post assembly careers?! Like what exactly? The calibre of our politician is so abysmal who would have them? I can’t imagine multinationals signing them up for directorships any time soon.
If it does fall in the New Year – when will the subsequent assembly election be held? I understand that it would most likely produce a result that is unworkable – but is that the process?
Ah, jone got there first…
Did they have any careers before they saw a way to profit from dissention? Marty was a butcher’s delivery boy and Gerry pulled pints. I suppose Marty could train other British agents how to infiltrate political movements but what would Gerry do other than invent ‘autobiographical’ stories that never actually happened?
People here seem very excitable.
Don’t worry, the assembly is here to stay.
Exactly. This is a false ‘crisis’. At the VERY worst, there will be an election, then back to business as usual. Those snouts ain’t coming out of the trough permanently, no way.
Good. I say close the hundreds (?) of expensive Dup/Sf/Uup/sdlp/Alliance/Pup constituency offices as well and use the money to increase the funding of the non-political Citizen Advice Bureaux.
Don’t worry, the assembly is here to stay.
Unfortunately true. If the MLA’s (all 108)think hard about ‘post-assembly careers’ they should conclude -or at least their families will- that a barren future awaits. Unemployment or, Horrors!, a proper job in the real world with a tiny fraction of present earnings.
The hangmans noose of such a terrible prospect tends to concentrate the mind.
The real government at Westminster and the real power at Hillsborough Castle will continue to run things while the gravy train circles the moneygoround rim of the Stormont bubble.
Kerching!!!
Surely the story is Gregory Campbell holding out the possibility of community confidence being attained in six weeks?
Bring back Dad; he’ll sort it out.
goodee goodee why wait pull the shutters now or even better yesterday. weyhey
[i]Surely the story is Gregory Campbell holding out the possibility of community confidence being attained in six weeks? [/i]
Yep.
I spotted that too Bonar!
we are fast reaching the point where HMG has to say to Unionism:
“There are certain rights and responsibilities you need to live up to in order to remain part of the UK”
percy, threatening unionism only galvanizes it. Look at what Wilson did, with the “spongers” speech. He told them in plain English what he thought of them, and it made them more determined to show him who was boss.
Unionism, along with the rest of us, will be worse off without devolution. But you can’t force them to see that.
Gergory have a wee read…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Capital-Confidence-Community-Harold-Bellman/dp/1406788635/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259620437&sr=8-6
Then let the rest of us know what in the Sam hell these conditions are, will ya?
There are some people who still need to understand what many have always understood – for instance- that the murder of Jean McConville was a crime ,and that all of those who were “disappeared” were likewise victims of paramilitaries who still will not,even at this stage,allow a decent burial of their remains.It is not just the Unionist community that need to be confident,there are many whom I would have serious concerns about being a minister for policing and justice,more than sf have danced the twostep with paramilitaries – King rat springs to mind.
too true comrade stalin
the brits created their own monster – unionism
and they have to keep feeding it…
Political analysis at the level of “Monsters” eh?
Slugger does impress sometimes.
Who ya gonna call?
Indeed Danny, its also worth noting that it wasn’t only paramilitaries who went on murder sprees, the Ballymurphy Massacre springs to mind, as does the 300 odd murders by weapons supplied by the State via Brian Nelson.
So Danny, looks like no-one in the UK can be trusted with P&J or indeed government of NI, any suggestions?
The DUP need to do their sums. There are only so many MPs, and when people catch on that the DUP don’t have an outright majority in constituencies MPs may be DUP no longer.
What career options then for stroppy underqualified ex-councillors?
Under joint authority the plum jobs go to the SDLP UUP and Alliance, and maybe even to Greens and Labour.
The Assembly is the only show in town, despite the relentless hissy-fits.
Lets have an election or two or three to see if posturing pays more or less than an MLAs fat salary.
When we see ex MLAs houses being repossessed we will be getting something right.
Does Maginnis not realize that every time he threatens or bullies it makes it harder for the DUP to sell P&J to the Unionist Community. If Sinn Fein bring down the NI Assembly with Maginnis resigning that could be the end to power sharing for a generation as Unionism wont stand for a Sinn Fein first minister and with half a dozen TUV elected the whole thing would be pointless. You have to ask yourself what do Sinn Fein get by bringing the house down British Direct rule? I don’t believe there will be an election under those circumstances as it does not make sense for Sinn Fein to go to the electorate with nothing to show except the mess they have created over education and the fall of the NI Assembly. I feel that the DUP want P&J, but it would take the Unionist community to back it. That can only happen if they can sell it as a package and Unionism believes it to be a good deal! Maginess is making it sound like a bad deal due to the treats and needs to engage to resolve the outstanding issues, by backing yourself into a corner is foolish especially if you can’t get out of it!
Easter 1916, Good Friday 1998, Christmas 2009 … Why do militant Irish republicans obsess on religious dates?
Intereated
Are you such an ass that you won’t spell the man’s name correctly?
ah come on Nevin 3 dates in 90 years, the Queen has more birthdays than that in a year, why do British people obsess about birthdays?
Fin, three significant dates and all with religious undertones. For God and Ireland (cf for God and Ulster)
Nevin might be quite happy with three dates
there should be an election , the DUP should make it clear they would not be part of a government without changes made to how stormont is run. It could be returned as the largest party again on that ticket with its veto intact.
Let the UUP become Martys bitch, they will jump at the chance will the DUP takes it upon itself to be the opposition working to make the place more democratic.
Do you honestly think the shinners will bring it down? Me neither – the collapse of the assembly by them will lead to all the unionist parties running away for another decade shouting ‘SF are the wreckers!’
Fact is unionism doesn’t care about P&J and watching SF get their ‘no named, ex ira’ press releases promising doomsday if they don’t get what they want is alienating their view that P&J must happen.
This all reminds me of the early 1900′s rule – economy bad? Government in trouble? Go to war to take peoples minds of the real issues. DUP and SF are misleading people with this bitchfest so that we don’t realise that they have no idea how to help local companies, bring jobs back and actually do something for the whole of NI.